It’s the 21st-century version of a back-seat driver, in which beeps and moving icons would
replace the low-tech “Watch out!”

And if research under way at Battelle ever leads to new safety standards in American travel, the
technology will be in every vehicle, along every road and at every intersection nationwide.

Battelle researchers are taking part in a U.S. Department of Transportation project to see how
GPS technology can be used to make vehicles safer. They’re trying to get cars to share information
with each other so that drivers can be alerted when other vehicles brake suddenly, enter their
blind spots or present other hazards.

They’re testing their ideas right now using COTA buses and rental cars in parking lots and other
off-road locales. Tests could hit the road later this year.

“It’s both vehicles saying, ‘Here I am, here’s how fast I’m moving, here’s the direction I’m
heading,’ ” said Matt Burt, a transportation researcher at Battelle who’s leading the project.

According to the federal transportation agency, vehicle-to-vehicle communications have the
potential to prevent more than three-quarters of the 5.4 million crashes on U.S. roads every
year.

Current crash-avoidance technology uses cameras, radar or other means. It alerts drivers when
they veer out of their lanes, when other cars are in their blind spots, or when people or objects
are behind them as they back up.

A study this month by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found crash claims among owners
of cars equipped with the technology were 14 percent lower than those who didn’t use warning
systems.

Burt said Battelle’s research uses radio signals to transmit GPS information and alert drivers
to potential hazards. The Department of Transportation says information would be kept anonymous as
it’s shared among vehicles.

Right now, researchers at Battelle are focusing on its potential for buses.

The technology will have to be widely adopted to be useful. It also will have to be somewhat
selective in the warnings it issues. It wouldn’t help much if the system warned drivers about every
car on the road.

“We’re looking at it as an extra layer of security, if the driver hasn’t already noticed the
potential hazard,” Burt said.